Tears
by msllamalover
Summary: There are so many tears, none of which Marietta is allowed to cry. Marietta/Cedric, written for the never before seen pairing challenge.


_Disclaimer: Not mine, of course!  
__A/N: Written for the Never Before Seen Pairing challenge. I'm actually amazed that no one has done Marietta/Cedric, but there we go! I wrote this a little too quickly, which is why it isn't my best (I know my tenses are appalling). Reviews rock, even if you're only going to tell me how bad it is!  
__Dedicated to everyone at the HPFC, who really know how to make a girl feel loved!_

* * *

_There is laughing, so much laughing._

Cho can't stop giggling as she tells Marietta what happened to her the night of the Yule Ball. She covers her horribly pretty face with her pillow to hide to blush that is spreading across her flawless cheeks. Cho is so unbelievably happy. Marietta is her friend, her best friend, even if it was wasn't written so obviously on her face, she'd be able to tell.

Marietta hates Cho that night, more than she thinks she has ever hated anyone before, even if she does love her. Because Cedric was meant to ask her to the dance, not her best friend. She was meant to be the one being twirled so effortlessly by him. She liked him first, but she didn't tell Cho that then, and she can't tell her now how it should have been her. She doesn't tell her friend, because she wants her to be happy.

So Marietta just laughs along, asking for every detail that she doesn't really want to hear.

* * *

_There is cheering, so much cheering._

Cedric stands tall and proud and perfect at the entrance to the maze. His chest is puffed out as he takes those first steps towards winning. The crowd is deafening as he enters, louder than it is for any of the other contestants, who mean nothing to her.

She has a bad feeling about this. If the first two tasks were bad, this last one will surely be worse. He will get hurt, and she will be able to do nothing to stop it. The guilt will sit heavily on her heart, because she shouldn't have let him go in anyway.

Not that he would have listened to her pleas. She isn't a seer, she isn't especially magically talented, she isn't incredibly pretty. She isn't anything, except his girlfriend's friend. She means next to nothing to him. A tear almost slips down her cheek, but she is stronger than that, a better actress, so she stops it before it can fall.

The cheering is giving Marietta a headache, and it hurts so much. She can feel her heart drumming inside her head, like she is secretly drumming people off to war. Maybe she is.

Marietta wants so desperately to leave. Her head hurts and she feels sick, but she stays, stuck in her place, cheering just as loudly as Cho.

_

* * *

_

__

There are speeches, so many speeches.

Professor Dumbledore stands in front of them and the Leaving Feast, and gives them a speech. He tells them to remember Cedric Diggory. She knows he was good and kind and brave. The sea of people are sorrowful, their faces wet and grey. Hers isn't. Hers isn't allowed to be, as she comforts Cho. She knows that she will never forget him. How could she?

Mrs Diggory gives Cho a speech as they part. She tells her how her Cedric had spoken so lovingly of her in his letters, how special she must have been to him. Marietta gives her a warm hug as Mrs Diggory leaves. Cho can't seem to calm down, not knowing how much Cedric must have loved her. Again, Marietta is the one picking up the pieces, putting her friend back together. Still she wonders when she will find the time to put herself back together.

Cho would probably give a speech to her, too, if she could find it in herself to string the words together, but she can't seem to force out more than a few words at once.

Marietta hates the speeches by the end. They echo in her head. She constantly hears Professor Dumbledore telling them how good Cedric was, Cho telling her how much she misses him, Mrs Diggory telling Cho how much her son loved her.

Marietta never wants to hear a speech again, but she gives Cho a nightly speech, because it makes her friend feel better, even if it makes her feel so incredibly sad inside.

_

* * *

_

There are tears, so many tears.

None of which Marietta is allowed to cry.


End file.
